Articles tagged “hosts”

New data from AirDNA show that corporate hosts wield huge power on Airbnb's platform despite the fact that individual hosts make up more than 90 percent of hosting's ranks. Airbnb is empowering the growth of these property managers, but the result could be disenchanted hosts and guests.

Airbnb is going with huge brand marketing campaigns in 2021 to take hosting mainstream. But when travel recovers and rivals turn on their performance marketing on Google, will Airbnb de-prioritizing search engine marketing come back to haunt it?

There were few surprises in Airbnb's roadshow presentation. It was high on optics and spin, and could have been much more substantive.

The entire hospitality industry would agree that short-term rentals led the tentative recovery in the spring and into the summer in many parts of the world. But a key question will be how will they respond when hotels and cities come back in earnest — and with vaccines a real possibility, they certainly will.

What are the prospects of Airbnb becoming a full-service online travel agency with the ability to go head-to-head with Booking.com. We know from the S-1 statement that Airbnb isn't profitable and you can walk away from reading the massive document without great insight into so many potential growth initiatives.

This system malfunction will hardly be a footnote in Airbnb's history, but the timing sucked for the IPO hopeful.

This lawsuit on behalf of hosts will do little to deter Airbnb's proposed initial public offering. Although it will generate negative headlines, large companies like Airbnb often treat class action lawsuits as the price of doing business.

The Airbnb Host Endowment wouldn't turn hosts into investors in the IPO. But by earmarking 9.2 million shares to fund the endowment, it may counteract the feeling among a few hosts that going public would only benefit elite investors and employees. It's a clever and creative move by Airbnb, but more fundamental host issues remain.

On the road toward its IPO, Airbnb has engaged in nonstop publicity about its efforts to crack down on house parties. Another less-noticed part of that effort is when Airbnb blocks these bookings of whole homes, it encourages users to book hotels instead.

Special purpose acquisition company, direct listing or an initial public offering — Airbnb's choice mostly matters to big-name investors and employees, past and present. But nothing is ever certain about a stock market listing — especially during a pandemic.